Blog:FOREST LAKE TALKS

Welcome to May, which has now been renamed “May Madness” or “Maycember” by many due to the events that coincide with the end of the school year – graduations, exams, college decisions, sport seasons finishing, art performances, and __________ (you can fill in the blank).

When we clog the calendar with more items, it is so tempting to think, “I’ll get to Jesus on another day when there’s more time.” As we know, however, that time often does not occur without intentionality – we must make the decision to decide if we want a relationship with God. Does it mean taking one unnecessary item off the calendar for the upcoming week? Reducing the amount of time we spend on social media by thirty minutes? Getting up thirty minutes earlier to read Scripture? Checking in with a friend in need and then praying with them?

“Repent” is a fancy term we say in church often, usually around the confession prayer during worship. While we associate the word with sin (scary word), what if we considered it more of a redirect (less scary), giving us a chance to redirect our focus, our daily lives, our priorities on our relationships with God and each other? What if we turned our lives and eyes up and outward instead of constantly looking down at a calendar and seeing nothing but a “to do” list to complete before we get to the next day?

One of the best ways to make time for God is opening a book. Ideally, you’ll choose to spend some time reading Scripture (please email or text me if you’d like some suggestions on how to start), but I learn a lot from reading the writings of others. My theology and perspective on God are broadened and potentially shift when I consider the thoughts of someone else. Therefore, I invite you to stop by the FLPC library and check out some of the newest titles for adults. You’ll see them right when you walk in, and I’ve listed a few below with excerpts to get you thinking.

This Beautiful Day: Daily Wisdom from Mister Rogers: “I hope you will feel good enough about yourselves that you will want to minister to others, and that you will find your own unique ways to do that.”

Holy Disruption: A Manifest for the Future of Faith Communities by Amy Butler and Dawn Darwin Weaks: “While what the future of the church will look like is not yet clear, perhaps our most faithful response in this moment of uncertainty is to step into unknown territory without courage and to become holy disruptors ourselves” (9).

Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans: “If I’ve learned anything in this journey…it’s that Sunday morning sneaks up on us – like dawn, like resurrection, like the sun that rises a ribbon at a time. We expect a trumpet and a triumphant entry, but as always, God surprises us by showing up in ordinary things: in bread, in wine, in water, in words, in sickness, in healing, in death, in a manger of hay, in a mother’s womb, in an empty tomb.” (258).

Make time to read this summer! Make time for God!